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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29182893">Forelsket</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lily_Harvord/pseuds/Lily_Harvord'>Lily_Harvord</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Red Queen Series - Victoria Aveyard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aka what Kilorn Warren wishes he could have been, Best Friends to Love, Canon-Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Future Fic, GIVE ME PTOLEMUS/WREN BABIES OR GIVE ME DEATH, I REGRET NOTHING, I wrote enough angst lately, Not ME putting my post broken throne head canons on paper, One-Shot, Post-Canon, So I have taken Post-Canon into my own hands, Sorry not Sorry Victoria, Victoria has abandoned us for Realm Breaker, and she will have to pry this head canon specifically from my cold dead hands, major fluff, this is a completely harmless head canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:28:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,724</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29182893</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lily_Harvord/pseuds/Lily_Harvord</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Forelsket: (Verb-Norwegian) the feeling of euphoria one gets when they experience falling in love. The blissful state of wonder when everything is thrilling and you are excitable just at the thought of your loved one. The energy experienced at the start of a relationship you hope will last forever. <br/>Sometimes... best friends do get to fall in love, even if they are terrified to share that feeling with said best friend. (((:</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Coriane Barrow Calore/Original Character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Forelsket</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Me? Writing a fic about Coriane Barrow Calore and my Samos baby OC? Me finally putting my Post Broken Throne headcanons on paper?! And taking canon into my own hands? Not ME! WRONG BITCH?! </p>
<p>This fic is based on a head canon of mine. If you read my Olive Branch story on here you already know who Nikolas is. You do not have to have read it to understand this fic though (((:</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the longest time Coriane had wondered why people always looked at her and Nik when they were together, and why as they got older people started to whisper. She couldn’t help that her mother had taken her to same park that Nik’s aunts took him when she was little. It wasn’t her fault that they had met one day and played a very intense game of tag before deciding to be friends. It wasn’t her fault that he happened to be in her classes through all the years she had been in school. It <em>certainly</em> wasn’t her fault that she lived on the path he always took when walking to and from school either.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Those were all a bunch of coincidences! Which was why she hated when people used to make kissing noises when they were on the playground together. Nik was too nice to punch people, but Coriane learned early how to ball her hand into a fist and hit the soft part of someone’s stomach. She’d seen the mistress of the school plenty of times because of that and every time her mom or dad had to pull her out of school, she got the same lecture on the way home.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            <em>Stop losing your temper. People will say nasty things your whole life. Learn to let those things roll off your back.</em></p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>Between her and her brother, Shade was better at that. But he wasn’t afraid to swing his fist either. He had a nastier right hook than her anyway. Florence Dephiam might disagree, but her nose had stuck itself so far into Coriane’s business and she had been tired of it being there.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>             Now she understood why people whispered though. It started about a few years ago, when she and Nik went swimming in the icy creek behind the park. She had seen Nik without his shirt plenty of times when they were younger and they used to run around his backyard, when it was sweltering during the height of summer. But for some reason that day her stomach had fluttered, and her heart had pounded while she flushed. He’d teased her mercilessly about being afraid of getting a little cold. She’d showered him in a wave of water while jumping in to shut him up. At least, that’s what she told herself she did it for. Not to hide how flustered she was by that fluttering in her stomach.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            She kept that flutter to herself, shoved it deep, deep, <em>deep </em>down where sometimes she forgot it existed. But Nik always did something that pulled it back to the surface. Yesterday, he’d grabbed her arm to pull her out of the way of an obstacle during training. He’d grabbed her arm plenty of times growing up, and held her hand often enough that it shouldn’t have bothered her. But for some reason, her entire body had heated up to the point that she’d started to turn the rain on her skin to vapor. She really, really didn’t want to think about what that meant.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            That fluttering was going to ruin <em>everything</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Nik was her friend. Her best friend if she really thought about it. He was one of the only people outside of her immediate family to see her cry. Her knew her deepest, darkest fears. He knew all the details about her life. He could probably guess her breakfast down to how much milk she poured on her cereal.</p>
<p>           </p>
<p>            She would not let some stupid <em>feelings </em>ruin that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Are you just going to keep glaring at my ceiling like it offends you?” Nik’s chest rose and fell under her head with his laugh. She’d brought the new record she got for her birthday to his house so he could listen to it with her. She liked listening to music in his room. His player was better than hers anyway. Or maybe it was the fact, that laying on his floor with him made the music sound better. Again, she shoved that thought down.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “It’s ugly just like you.” She teased before letting her head roll to the side. He was looking up at the ceiling too, which meant she could see him swallow before he replied. She could hear and feel his heart beating as he breathed under her too. It sent a thrill through her that she was allowed this close to Nikolas Samos.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He wasn’t a very touchy-feely person. He said it was because most of his family wasn’t either. His mom and his aunt Elane were the warmest people in his family, but they could only hold him so much as a child. Coriane on the other hand was very used to expressing her feelings that way. From a young age, she learned the importance of hugs. Her grandma Ruth gives the best ones after all. She used to think they were magic when she was little.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Because you’re so much better looking Cori.” He lifted his head off the carpet to look at her. Those iron colored eyes were very nice in the lightning, Coriane thought to herself. Only to quickly shove that thought into the same box she kept the fluttering and any other thoughts of Nik that weren’t in regrades to his general well-being.  </p>
<p>           </p>
<p>            “Still better looking than you.” She huffed before facing the ceiling again and closing her eyes. Anything to avoid looking at him. How was she going to keep hanging out with him like this if she couldn’t even control her thoughts around him? She was bound to blurt something out at some point. Her family always said that she inherited her mom’s mouth. She knew it was true though. She was not afraid to say what she thought. It sometimes drove her mom insane though, and they used to butt heads more when she was younger because of it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            She decided to focus on the music to avoid thinking about Nik. It was a newly recovered Old Era song. Her uncle Kilorn had gifted it to her this year. She didn’t tell anyone, but his gifts were her favorites. He always knew exactly what she liked.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “We should walk and get dinner soon. It’s getting late.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “After the song.” Coriane murmured, letting herself get lulled by the cords and the feeling of Nik’s breathing. She had no problem with staying late at Nik’s house, even when it used to make her mom nervous that she spent so much time around Nik. As the years went by though, she stopped getting warnings before leaving, and instead started being told to mind her mouth and say thank you to his parents. And when Nik came over, her mom didn’t walk on egg shells around him. Maybe she was just used to his presence now. It probably helped that Nik took after his mom a little more than his dad. If it were the other way, Coriane knew her mom might have put her foot down about them being friends a long time ago.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Did you think about what I told you… about Addie a few days ago?” Nik asked quietly, but Coriane heard it anyway. Addie was another girl in their year who had been flirting with Nik for weeks. He’d asked Cori what she thought about her a few days ago. Coriane had changed the subject very fast as soon as he asked.  </p>
<p>           </p>
<p>The thought of her long chocolate colored hair and pretty almond eyes sent a bolt of panic through Coriane. It was probably what Shade felt every time he channeled a bolt of electricity during training, something she would never really understand.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was selfish, but she didn’t want Addie around Nik. It wasn’t that Addie was bad or anything. She was actually really nice. But if he started hanging out with her or… dating her, that meant Cori couldn’t do things like this anymore. She told herself that was the problem, instead of what really was chewing at her mind.</p>
<p>           </p>
<p>            “Why do you care what I think?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Because you’re my friend, and I trust your judgement.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Coriane expelled a sigh through her nose before rolling to sit up. There was no avoiding this stupid conversation anymore. Besides, she didn’t know what she was so afraid of. If Nik started seeing Addie, maybe the fluttering would finally die, and she could stop feeling so weird around him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She could feel Nik’s eyes on her as she fixed her shirt that had fallen off her shoulder. Better to take this slow and steady, even though ripping off the bandage might be easier. “She’s pretty, and she obviously likes you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “But do <em>you </em>like her?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Why does that matter Nik? It should just matter if you like her.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “I don’t.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Coriane glared at him over her shoulder, before shoving her fingers into her curls to push them out of her face. “Then why are you even bothering to ask me?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “I don’t know. I’m just trying to figure out what you’re thinking.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “You always know what I’m thinking.” Coriane argued back before getting up to pad across the room and turn the record off. It wasn’t an exaggeration. Nik knew her inside and out, just like she knew him in the same way. He was just being stupid. If he didn’t like Addie why was he bothering to ask about her?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Actually I don’t.” With a little flick of his hand, he moved the needle off the record. It was such a subtle move that it made Coriane’s hand pause mid-reach. Sometimes she forgot how powerful Nik was. And sometimes he forgot how powerful <em>she </em>was. They had learned the hard way about each other in that capacity while sparring. He may be a very strong Magnetron with the training and the pedigree to back it up, but she was something else. She was a mix of Silver and Ardent that had made her deadly from the moment she created her first little candle sized flame.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            The floor creaked as Nik propped himself on his elbows, and with a sigh he said, “I don’t like Addie because… I like someone else.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “You should tell her that before she gets more invested.” Coriane tried to ignore the bitter sting of jealousy that went through her. So not only was Addie a problem, there was another person. <em>Great</em>. Grimacing, at that thought and the burn in her cheeks, she tried to shove that feeling in the box and lock it. If tonight kept going like this, she was going to run out of space in there.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            She lifted the record off the player before dragging her backpack towards her to put it away. When she tried to pull the zipper though, it refused to budge.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Stop Nik,” she grumbled as she pulled on it again, but it stayed in place. The metal began to heat up between her forefinger and thumb as the silence continued and the metal tab refused to move under her urging.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Usually you’re the one trying to get me to talk.” He teased, making her look over her shoulder at him with a frown. He quirked a brow at her expression before reaching up to scratch at his dark hair. With the lights dimmed in his room like this, he looked like one of the paintings her aunt made, complete with slightly blurred edges that made it seem like a dream. She was grateful for that blissful darkness though. It saved her from having to explain the blush in her cheeks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Now she wished she left the record playing. The silence was starting to make the whole thing worse. Looking back down at her hands she said, “I’m hungry. I get moody when I’m hungry.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Don’t I know that.” Nik poked at her heel with his toes. Pushing his leg away with one hand, Coriane glowered at him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “I mean it, don’t make me beat your ass like I did yesterday.” She warned, but the threat lost most of its influence with her smile. Nik was the only one besides her brother and parents who could really pull her out of a bad mood. They knew all the ways to push that darkness back.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “I was winning for almost the whole fight. You cheated.” Nik reasoned with a little shrug before releasing his hold on her zipper.</p>
<p>           </p>
<p>            Smirking at getting her way, Coriane pulled out the case and put her record away. It gave her something to think about other than the way the muscles underneath Nik’s thin shirt moved when he shrugged. Had he always looked like that? No definitely not. He’d only started putting on muscle a year or two ago. Or maybe it was three? He had always been thin as a pole from what she could remember. His mom always bemoaned that if he turned sideways and stuck his tongue out he could be a zipper. It used to make Coriane giggle.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            He certainly didn’t look like that anymore. Just like Coriane knew she didn’t look like the girl with a bow in her hair anymore. They stopped looking like kids a long time ago.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Have you—are you still talking to Xander?” Nik asked her back, his voice strangely quiet.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “No. He wanted one thing and one thing only… plus his nose was crooked.” Coriane added the last part with a smile in Nik’s direction, hoping it would soothe the strange hurt he had just shown her. But his brow stayed furrowed, and his eyes remained dark. “My dad hated him anyways.” She added when the shadow that crossed his expression refused to leave.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Your dad hates every guy that talks to you.” She didn’t have to look at him to know he rolled his eyes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “He doesn’t hate you.” Coriane said with shrugged before pushing her backpack away and sitting to face Nik again. He looked down at his legs, his expression loosening a bit. It wasn’t much but it was something. The last thing she wanted was for her earlier mood to rub off on him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “I guess.” He murmured, obviously uncertain still.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            They were quiet for a long time. Coriane couldn’t remember the last time they were this uncomfortable around each other. Actually, it might have been after the really bad fight they had years ago. Nik had said something to her—she couldn’t remember what it was anymore—just that it had hurt more than anything. She had left his house immediately, telling him she hated him and didn’t want to see him ever again. When she got home, she stayed curled up with her head in mom’s lap for hours crying about it that night. They didn’t talk for a week after, and when he finally came around and apologized, they had a hard time figuring out their new boundaries.  </p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Coriane glanced down at her hands, tracing the lines with her eyes to avoid looking up and breaking the silence. It would have to get broken eventually. That bitter thought from earlier reared its ugly head again, and Coriane squeezed her eyes shut in preparation before asking, “if you don’t like Addie, who do you like?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “It doesn’t matter. She doesn’t like me like that.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “How do you know?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Nik was quiet again, and Coriane opened her eyes to look at her hands again. In her eighteen years, she’s collected a couple little scares on her forehands. One or two from sparring, and a few from helping her dad in their garage. But they were easier to think about right now than Nik, and the little flare of hope in her chest that came with his confession.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Do you really not like Xander because his nose is crooked?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Well, if they were going down that road, she might as well just tell the truth. There was no point in hiding it from Nik anymore. “No, but… I like some other guy.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Oh.” Nik’s exclamation floated into the darkness, a strange cord of hope to it that made Coriane glance up through her lashes. He was sitting up now too, his legs crossed under him while he watched her. They stared at each other like that for a moment before Nik scooted a little closer and their knees almost bumped. He kept a special inch of space between them to prevent that from happening though.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Can I ask you something?” He was so close when he spoke, she could smell the shaving cream he started using a few weeks ago. It smelled like mint. She decided she liked it. Especially when it mixed with the perfume she wore. “Is it… weird that I think about you a lot?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “We’re friends Nik, I think about you too.” Coriane tried to keep her voice from going into the breathy octave that Clara called the <em>flirty </em>octave. She usually punctuated that title with a wink when Coriane balked at it. The last thing she wanted in this moment was for Nik to get the wrong idea. Or get any idea really. This was so confusing. She couldn’t decide if she wanted him to know what she was feeing or not. Admitting her feelings to him felt like covering her eyes and stepping off a cliff. It made her nauseous just thinking about it. But continuing to sit on them like a chicken would an egg made her hate herself. Which was the worse evil? She tossed back and forth between the two minds like a boat in a storm.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Can I put the record back on?” Nik asked quickly. His voice cracked halfway through though and made him pull back with wide eyes. The tension shattered like a glass bowl and Coriane blinked in surprise before laughing at the pure horror on his face. He joined in a moment later, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away from her while his dark skin flushed pale.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            She fished the record out and gave it to him, trying to stifle her laugh the whole time. His voice hadn’t cracked in a long time, but it had provided such a needed relief that she couldn’t help but be grateful for it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Still blushing, Nik srambled to his feet to put it on, letting the music fill the silence of his room. When he sat down again, his knee brushed hers. Coriane’s entire focus zeroed to that point of contact, and her heart began to beat staccato in her chest. It was stupid. She and Nik had brushed knees all the time as kids. They had even made a game of trying to bruise the other’s when they were younger. Nik’s mom probably spent too much time healing aching knees when they were kids, but no one stopped them. Her own mother always grumbled about letting them pummel each other, that a little rough housing was good for them.</p>
<p>                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           </p>
<p>            “Does the guy know that you like him?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “I don’t think so.” Coriane watched his face for his reaction, but he gave nothing away with the slight tilt of his head. He was so close she could see the splash of charcoal grey in his irises.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Are you going to tell him?”</p>
<p>           </p>
<p>            “I don’t know. Are you going to tell whoever it is that you like?”</p>
<p>                       </p>
<p>            “I want to.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Why don’t you?” She forced herself to keep watching him, to try and put the observation skills her mom had taught her to use. Nik had always been such a closed book though. He was the only person she could never figure out. It had taken her forever to figure out all his little ticks, and even then, he always made new ones like his emotions were a code he was trying to keep safe.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            In the end, he ignored her question with a shrug. But as he rested his forearms on his knees, his fingers brushed her shin, and sent bolts of electricity up to her brain. Finally, she saw the skin between his brows crinkle as he tried to keep from making a face at whatever thought crossed his mind.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Do you remember a few weeks ago after training when you went over to get your ribs looked at?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Yeah. You helped them cut my jacket off.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            He blushed again, and his eyes darted down to his hands and his fingers curled into fists to avoid touching her. “I’ve… been thinking about that a lot.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Nothing had happened. It wasn’t even his fault that she had fallen. They had been racing to the top of the obstacle, her foot had gotten tangled in the netting, and she had lost her grip on the platform above her head trying to get loose. She’d fallen ten feet to the ground and landed on her back. The crack had one hundred percent been ribs, and while the trainer had rushed to her, Nik had been the first one down to check on her. He’d helped the trainer lift her to her feet and had practically carried her to the healer off to the side.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            A quick inspection had confirmed broken ribs, and rather than make the pain worse by taking her training jacket off normally, Nik had helped the healer by cutting it open at the back to give the woman access to her skin. She hadn’t been thinking about him at all though in that moment, just that her right side felt like it was on fire, and her lungs felt like they were filling with water.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Thinking back on it now, she had felt his hands lingering on her lower back and side a little longer than was probably necessary. It could have been that he was just supporting her so that she didn’t have to hold her own weight while the healer snapped bones back into place and healed her torn lung. But they’re trailed off her skin as the healer shooed him out of her way. And he had coddled her a stupid amount afterward, taking her home and dropping her off and making her explain to her parents what happened and why she needed a new training jacket. It had just been Nik being Nik though. He may not be the most sentimental person, but when he cared about someone he was willing to step in front of a firing squad for them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “I keep thinking about you. And not just the ribs incident. Whenever you’re around, I can’t stop thinking about how your arms look when you pull your hair up before training, and how you always put your right boot on before your left even if that’s the stupidest superstition I’ve ever heard.” He inhaled sharply, and tilted his head back to look at the ceiling, his throat bobbing rapidly. “I keep thinking about how happy it makes me when you pick me first for things, and how you always smile while I talk about whatever I’m doing, even if I know you think it’s boring.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Coriane opened her mouth to speak, but he dropped his chin and grabbed her wrist to keep her quiet. “I’m always thinking about how you can pick up any instrument and play it like you’ve know how forever. And when I think about the guys who try to flirt with you, I hate them. I hate them so much I want to punch their teeth in so they stop talking to you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Nik,” Coriane tried not to pull her wrist away. This was a lot, too much to unload when she wasn’t expecting it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want to make it awkward. I didn’t want to ruin <em>this</em>,” he gestured between them, his voice breaking as he shook his head.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Nikolas,” She insisted a little more forcefully. But he wasn’t listening. He kept shaking his head and rambling. This was infuriating. He wasn’t going to let her say a word, was he? That meant she was going to have to take a desperate measure, damn him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Grabbing his face, she pressed her lips against his. Her dad always did this when her mom wouldn’t stop talking. She’d seen him do it plenty of times to know it was effective. When she was little it used to gross her out, but as she got older, she realized it was a very reliable way to make someone she loved shut up. This kiss wasn’t exactly like that kiss though. That kiss always left her mom breathless and standing there dumbfound, no matter how many times it happened. This was a little more hesitant, a little more like a curiosity she was exploring.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It certainly wasn’t her first either, she’d had that kiss two years ago when her friend Willow had kissed her in the changing room before training. It had sent a thrill through her and she had kissed back before the two of them had pulled back in surprise at the other’s ferocity. Willow had moved to a smaller Montfort city a week later though, and taken that fling with her. They’d only kissed once, but it had confirmed a few things for Coriane. One, that she was perfectly happy kissing girls, the other being that she wanted to kiss everyone like that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This kiss wasn’t like that one either though. While that one had sent a bolt of lightning coursing through her so that her hands were shaking, this one was like a slow burning fire in her chest. It started there and slowly began to spread to every one of her fingers and toes. She wondered if Nik could feel that heat, and knew what it meant.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It certainly shut him up though. When they pulled away from it, they stared at each other for a long second. During that eternal second Coriane registered that her heart was beating so hard it hurt, and her stomach was hanging out somewhere in her pelvis, and that it was a very weird feeling. When the silence got to be too long, and she felt a little uncomfortable staring into his eyes, she said, “You wouldn’t let me say that I’ve been feeling the same things.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nik didn’t say anything when he grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her close to smash his lips against hers again. She gasped a little at the feeling, only to slowly unfurl from her seated position. Crawling to close the distance between them, she draped one arm and then the other over his shoulders, letting her hands dangled behind his back and brush against the track of his spine. She wanted to dig her nails into his skin though, and press her fingers into the muscles of his back to feel how they moved when he did. It seemed a tad much in the moment though, so she settled for dragging her fingers up through the hair on the back of his head.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Craning his neck to prolong the kiss, he grabbed her waist with both hands, and squeezed. She made a sound in the back of her throat that surprised even her. But her skin felt like it was on fire, and she couldn’t stop thinking about how embarrassing it would be if she burned him right now.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Her body had a mind of its own though, and she slipped one knee around his waist and then the other before trailing her fingers down to cup his jaw and keep his head tilted up. He tasted like mint, she hadn’t been expecting that. She wasn’t sure what she expected though. Maybe that he would taste like iron, or like every memory she had of him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>His fingers grabbed fistfuls of her shirt, untucking it from her pants as he shifted and rolled to the side to lower her onto his carpet. Crossing her ankles behind his hips in response, Coriane arched her back to keep the kiss from breaking. He pulled away to breathe though, and left her breathless as he did so.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They watched each other until Coriane realized that most of her hair was in her mouth and she was panting like she just ran five miles. Clearing her throat and reaching up with a shaking hand, she pushed the loose strands behind her shoulder. “I guess that clears that up.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nik laughed lightly, and that sound was probably the most wonderful thing Coriane had ever heard him make.</p>
<p> </p>
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